MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine president has fired the government's top prison official amid a public outcry over the release of hundreds of prisoners, including convicted rapists and drug traffickers, through a law rewarding good behavior in detention.

President Rodrigo Duterte said in a news conference Wednesday that Undersecretary Nicanor Faeldon of the Bureau of Corrections would immediately resign for disobeying his order to halt the release of convicted prisoners under the 2014 law.

Duterte said about 1,700 prisoners have been freed since the law took effect and that some may have paid their way to freedom.

The releases sparked an outcry over plans to release a former town mayor convicted in the killings of two students, including one who was gang raped before being shot.